MURRAY, Ky. -- Misguided text messages led to the arrest of a western Kentucky teacher who is accused of trying to buy pot from a state trooper.

Trooper Trevor Pervine was at dinner with his wife and parents, celebrating her birthday when his phone started buzzing.

Pervine was getting text messages about buying marijuana Thursday night, Kentucky State Police spokesman Barry Meadows said. The person sending the messages had the wrong number.

[Name redacted] 34, a teacher at Murray Middle School, is accused of sending the messages and has been charged with conspiracy to traffic in controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, Meadows said.

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Grant CO. Driver Evidently Slipped Past Random Tests

A Grant County school bus driver, had illegal drugs in her system after the bus she was driving crashed, doctors said. A Grant County bus driver involved in a crash that injured 17 students apparently managed to slip though a random drug-testing system similar to those in place in other area school districts.

Doctors found cocaine, marijuana and several prescription drugs in her system after a Jan. 17 accident that sent two middle school students to the hospital and injured 15 others. She was indicted Wednesday on several counts that included assault, wanton endangerment and possession of a controlled substance, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia.

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Recovery Programs Crucial To Winning Drug War

Think about the families fractured this holiday because of drug abuse.

Some missing family members are in prison; some are dead. Some may be around the house, but not really present.

No one thinks drug abuse is OK. The question is how best to fight it.

There are signs that the answer is shifting toward fighting drug abuse one person at a time, helping users recover, preventing others from getting hooked.

It's slow, it's personal, it's expensive. But without it, history and economics say, we are doomed to failure.

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NEWPORT - The Newport Independent School District will have to wait until 2010 if it wants to consider drug testing any of its teachers because of a collective bargaining agreement passed in June that does not call for the tests.

"It is against our contract to drug test teachers," Newport High School teacher Carol Dunn said.

Dunn serves as co-president of the Newport Teacher's Association, the union that put together the collective bargaining agreement.

She said because the four year contract was just approved in June, the board will have to wait until June 2010 to ask for changes and additions to the next contract.

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The Herald-Leader's Nov. 25 article about using helicopters to eradicate marijuana left me with a few questions.

How many millions of dollars in tax money are being spent on these weed-pulling missions? Helicopters are expensive, and so is manpower. How many schools have to do without proper books, computers and teachers to finance these commando-style plant-eradication junkets?

How many terrorists, illegal aliens and bales of cocaine come across our borders while our police are wasting time pulling weeds? Protecting our borders is a much better use of scarce resources than trying to arrest rural Kentucky gardeners. To all those who claim to be for balanced budgets, smaller government and less spending: Why can't you see that the war on marijuana is a failed effort that is merely used as pork spending?

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Methamphetamine use is not just a drug problem.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Hydee Hawkins, it's a "national epidemic," affecting otherwise law-abiding Americans and their children, and is the number one drug that law enforcement battles today.

This was the focus of an hour-long symposium last night in the Small Ballroom of the Student Center for National Methamphetamine Awareness Day. The day was created after President George W. Bush issued a proclamation earlier in November.

"On National Methamphetamine Awareness Day, we underscore the dangers of methamphetamine and reaffirm our collective responsibility to combat all forms of drug abuse," Bush wrote in a statement.

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Spotters Spent More Time in Air

Extra time in the air by spotters helped authorities destroy more marijuana growing outdoors in Kentucky this year than in more than a decade.

Police cut and burned 557,276 plants this year, up nearly 50,000 from 2005 and the most since 1995. Arrests also were up: 475 in 2006 compared with 452 in 2005.

If each destroyed plant had produced one pound of pot with an estimated worth of $2,000, that would mean $1 billion was prevented from entering the illegal drug market.

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Police destroyed more marijuana growing outdoors in Kentucky this year than they had in more than a decade, according to numbers compiled by state police.

One factor in the increase was that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration brought in several helicopters and an airplane for six weeks during the summer, creating more opportunity for airborne spotters to find pot patches, said Lt. Ed Shemelya, head of the marijuana-eradication program for the Kentucky State Police.

"Anybody in this business will tell you the more eyes you get in the sky, the more dope you'll find," Shemelya said.

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The Pike County Board of Education is drug testing more students more often, but there are still some problems with the policy.

Vice-Chairman J.C. Chaney asked Board of Education members to revamp the district's random student drug-testing policy after one child, who is not in the random drug testing pool, was tested because officials suspected illegal drug use. The student, whose parents weren't notified by the Board of Education or the school, passed the test, Chaney said.

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In reaction to an underage drinking scandal that police said included a school board member, two teachers and high school students, the Newport school board took steps Wednesday to tighten the district's drug and alcohol policies.

At the recommendation of Superintendent Michael Brandt, the board authorized him to:

Research drug-testing policies in other districts.

Form a task force to study a random drug-testing policy for students.

Create a code of conduct for students who want to participate in sports and other extra-curricular activities.

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It's encouraging to read "Students meet for marijuana reform" (Nov. 3), and I hope it leads to the end of cannabis prohibition.

Another reason to stop caging people for using cannabis that isn't mentioned is because the Bible indicates God created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good, on literally the very first page (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30).

The only Biblical restriction place on cannabis is that it be accepted with thankfulness (1 Timothy 4:1-5).

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

Stuffing a brownie in his mouth in front of the Classroom Building yesterday, Andy Barnes realized the message on his shirt contradicted his cause.

The undecided freshman, who openly admits to smoking marijuana, was wearing an old D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) t-shirt.

"I guess I didn't think about this (event) before I put it on," he said.

Barnes and about 30 students advocating the legalization of marijuana gathered in front of the Classroom Building yesterday to promote UK's chapter of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). The group, which was established at UK two years ago, handed out information pamphlets about marijuana laws and brownies.

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Kentuckians' civil liberties are a little safer today thanks to a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling handed down last week.

In March 2003, Paducah residents Frederick Carl "Fritz" Krause III and Joe Yamada pleaded guilty to cocaine and marijuana charges after Kentucky State Police Detective Jason Manar came to their house in the middle of the night and found drug paraphernalia.

Manar told Krause a young girl had been raped inside the house, and that he needed to see if furniture matched the girl's descriptions. But there was no rape and no young girl - the officer was lying.

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Red Ribbon Week Works to Prevent Substance Abuse

Thousands of schools nationwide this week are celebrating Red Ribbon Week, reminding students about the dangers of drugs.

The significance, though, may be a little more here at Holmes Alternative School.

The roughly 40 students in grades 7-12 are here because of behavior problems they had while at Holmes Junior/Senior High School. For some, those problems included drug use.

This is the first year the alternative school has made a big splash about this week. Administrators hope it has an impact.

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RICHMOND -- Slobber flew from Bari's jowls as he raced through the warm grass Friday and sunk his teeth into his favorite toy.

A drool-soaked tennis ball.

His 80 pounds of fur and muscle slid into his handler just long enough to get to his paws again and chase another ball across Irvine McDowell Park.

"That's what he works for," said Richmond Police K-9 Handler Kurtis Heatherton. "That's his paycheck."

But don't let the playful demeanor fool you, RPD K-9 Bari's mission to protect and serve is not something he takes lightly.

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To the Editor:

I'm writing about: "K. S. P. nab 7 in 672 pot bust" (Times Leader, Saturday, Sept. 25).

I'm sure that many marijuana growers and sellers are thankful to the Kentucky State Police for this latest marijuana bust and others like it.

Without operations like this, marijuana would be worth what other easy-to-grow weeds are worth -- very little.

Thanks to the Drug Enforcement Administration and other so-called "drug warriors," the easy-to-grow weed is worth more than pure gold -- and completely tax free.

Any marijuana growers, sellers or traffickers arrested will soon be replaced. They always are.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

Pastor Ted Beam's letter (Medical Field Against Legalized Marijuana, Sept. 3, 2006) could more accurately be titled: Pastor Against Legalized Marijuana.

Biblically, clergy supporting cannabis prohibition isn't new and is referred to as the "Sin of the Priests" as subtitled in the New American Standard Bible (see Malachi 1:6-14).

While dishonorable priests claim "the table of the Lord is to be despised," "the table of the Lord is defiled" and "as for its fruit, its food is to be despised," Our Heavenly Father, says otherwise and does so starting on the first page of the Bible.

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INDEPENDENCE -- Linda Gutapfel thinks that her son might still be alive if he had fully known the dangers of what he was doing. That's why she's set out to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Gutapfel's 22-year old son, Johnny, was found motionless in the foyer of their Independence home on August 27, dead of an apparent heroin overdose. Linda says her son was not a drug-user, and was likely just experimenting.

"I just want people to know that this can happen the first time you try this," said Linda. "You don't have to be an addict. I don't know for sure if it would have saved his life, but I'm about 99 percent sure he wouldn't have done this if he had known more about it."

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SUV Flees During Attempted Drug Sting

One man died after an alleged undercover drug deal with police led to a chase yesterday.

The incident began about 2 p.m. near West Manslick and Mount Holly roads when undercover Metro Narcotics officers were attempting to make a drug buy from three people in a white Chevrolet Suburban, said Officer Dwight Mitchell, a Louisville Metro Police spokesman.

Metro Narcotics includes officers from metro police and other agencies, including the Kentucky State Police, Mitchell said.

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Concerning the Rev. Dr. Ted Beams' view on the legalization/regulation of marijuana, I would like to say that during Prohibition, when we tried to legislate away alcohol, we instead created huge criminal organizations which benefited from huge profits.

Today, we have created a similar situation wherein similar organizations have affected the world even our grandchildren will inherit.

Now, we should embark on a strategy against drug prohibition and strengthen education, which proved successful in reducing tobacco use.

If we wish to protect our children - a goal that God would certainly support - then we should invest in policies that remove criminals from the equation, something that prohibition has always failed to do.

Malcolm Kyle

The Hague,

Holland

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